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When I moved from my hometown to where I'm at today it took a lot of searching before I found a IFBC when I found one I did not know it had lost it's pastor and had hired a new one which was part of the new evangelical movement 5 years later the church was destroyed and I was looking for another church there's a lot of the same church's here and I'm not going to join one just to be in church . I did find one about 35 miles from my house but I have not joined because it's an IBC and they use more then bible ( I'm KJO) and I disagree with some of the doctrines taught . l've tried to be a good witness to a lot of it's members but lately things are getting as I have seen before in my last church and it wont be long and CCM will creeping in the doors .

I was a Youth Pastor for 20 years until God called me into the evangelist ministry and the mission fields for 7 years and now God is calling me back into the youth ministry but this time I will be starting a church with the youth in our town just recently we had our first meeting and had 35 youth attend a lot of them where young adults whom I taught for many years ( how great the rewards ) whom are born again christian's IFB we don't have a place to meet regular yet but we are seeking God in prayer daily to bless the ministry for His Glory.

We are all called into the ministry and if we can't find a church there is always a need for a new one to be started '' Many times I have taught that On Our Knees God Will Lead " seeking God Daily in Prayer is our power to do all things in Him for His Glory.

Today Many church's a falling away and It's getting harder to find one that hasn't become worldly and my friend you are in my prayers that God will direct your way to find the right church.

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When I moved from my hometown to where I'm at today it took a lot of searching before I found a IFBC when I found one I did not know it had lost it's pastor and had hired a new one which was part of the new evangelical movement 5 years later the church was destroyed and I was looking for another church there's a lot of the same church's here and I'm not going to join one just to be in church . I did find one about 35 miles from my house but I have not joined because it's an IBC and they use more then bible ( I'm KJO) and I disagree with some of the doctrines taught . l've tried to be a good witness to a lot of it's members but lately things are getting as I have seen before in my last church and it wont be long and CCM will creeping in the doors .

I was a Youth Pastor for 20 years until God called me into the evangelist ministry and the mission fields for 7 years and now God is calling me back into the youth ministry but this time I will be starting a church with the youth in our town just recently we had our first meeting and had 35 youth attend a lot of them where young adults whom I taught for many years ( how great the rewards ) whom are born again christian's IFB we don't have a place to meet regular yet but we are seeking God in prayer daily to bless the ministry for His Glory.

We are all called into the ministry and if we can't find a church there is always a need for a new one to be started '' Many times I have taught that On Our Knees God Will Lead " seeking God Daily in Prayer is our power to do all things in Him for His Glory.

Today Many church's a falling away and It's getting harder to find one that hasn't become worldly and my friend you are in my prayers that God will direct your way to find the right church.

Praying

God bless

Agreed, Brother EK! I always say, if there isn't one nearby, get started on a new one. Even if a person does not believe themself 'called' into ministry, they can always start a work, and pray for a pastor to come to lead. But I have known some outstanding, godly, Spirit-filled pastors who didn't believe they were 'called', they just saw a need and sought to help fulfill it, and the Lord used them mightily. The attitude of "use me" by a Christian can find them in many amazing places and situations they may not feel called to, but the way I see it, God may not have to 'call' if one is ready to go already! He just opens a door, and we are ready to pass through without any more invitation.

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GS - my folks were in almost the same predicament as you describe. Except that there was a church in their town that billed itself as IFB. They attended there for a while, but there were things that just weren't right...so they left. After a while, they went back, having tried a number of other churches in surrounding areas. But the prOBlems were still there and they became pretty glaring. So they just stopped going to church. Not a good thing. They did listen to Adrian Rogers every Sunday (and for an SBC, he was pretty biblical!), but that isn't the same at all.

One time when I was there to help my mom after a serious surgery, I saw a sign for a church when my Dad was taking me to the ferry to head back to Seattle and then home. When I got home, I did a search and found a church about 40 minutes away from them. We were heading up there for a visit two months later, and visited the church. It became my parents' home church and remains so to this day. My Dad has gone on to Glory, and, sadly (well, sad for the people), so has the pastor. My Mom still attends and we are all praying that God will send the man He would have pastor them now.

It is sometimes necessary to go outside one's area to find the right church. If it is at all possible to host a church in one's home and try to get a work started (as has been suggested), that's great, too...we can never have too many good, biblical churches.

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There are some pastors out there that their ministry is starting churches.

I would start with a credible (Biblically Correct) seminary school and find new graduates.

Word of mouth, ask other pastors if they know anyone.

Some churches put out ads in the papers and magazines.

Sadly most churches when searching for a pastor will send a member to another church and if the pastor does a good jOB then they approach him afterwards with an offer to come to their church. That seems hurtful and decieving but it's how a lot of churches do it these days.

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I was in the same situation when I first moved to Oregon. There are extremely few IFB churches in Oregon and there were none in the Eugene/Springfield area. I was forced to attend a Southern Baptist Church in Eugene that was definitely a "Laodocian" church and very lukewarm. There were 3 other families though that attended that were of like mind and faith and seeking an IFB church. We started meeting at each others houses every Saturday for bible study. We also took up an offering each week to put towards the possibility of becoming a church some day. After about a year we had grown to 30 people and had raised $20,000 and we then made it known to other IFB churches that we were officially seeking a Pastor to take our group and make a church. Thus was born, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Springfield, OR. under Pastor Nick Gillaspie.

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I was in the same situation when I first moved to Oregon. There are extremely few IFB churches in Oregon and there were none in the Eugene/Springfield area. I was forced to attend a Southern Baptist Church in Eugene that was definitely a "Laodocian" church and very lukewarm. There were 3 other families though that attended that were of like mind and faith and seeking an IFB church. We started meeting at each others houses every Saturday for bible study. We also took up an offering each week to put towards the possibility of becoming a church some day. After about a year we had grown to 30 people and had raised $20,000 and we then made it known to other IFB churches that we were officially seeking a Pastor to take our group and make a church. Thus was born, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Springfield, OR. under Pastor Nick Gillaspie.

Bro. Garry

I happened to find myself in southern Oregon one Sunday, and looking for a church in the phonebook, found "Conservative Baptist Church", which was, it turned out, anything but conservative OR Baptist-rock and roll, multiplicity of bible versions, passed out lesson plan with all the 'verses' printed for you, so no need for a Bible, since it couldn't be followed anyways, and, to top it all off, the quintessential sermon on...Loooove. We stayed for the entire service, just so we could actually see these things for real, and take it out of theory for us. So, really we DID get something out of it, if only the confirmation that what we had been taught was not coloring outside the lines.

Recently I was in the tiny town of Sheridan, I believe, near McMinnville, and I saw there was an IFB church there, though I was not there when I could attend, so I can't verify whether it was really IFB or not.

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Mike, your description of that church sounds much like about a third of the IFB churches in this area now. Unfortunately, most of the rest aren't too far behind in reaching that level of straying.

A few smaller IFB churches elsewhere were having trouble trying to find a good pastor because it seemed the better IFB pastors already had churches and those in the looking for a church were looking for bigger churches with bigger pay.

One of the reasons at least a couple of the area IFB churches took turns for the worse was because their old pastors died or had to retire for health reasons. At that point they discovered a very limited pool of IFB pastors to even consider for small, middle of nowhere churches. A few of the younger pastors they looked into were willing to consider pastoring there but only if guaranteed a certain salary with built-in yearly increases.

It's really sad how many get into the ministry as a career rather than a calling. Then along with all those who think they deserve a large salary with benefits regardless of the financial strength of the church, there are those who are only interested in doing the minimum necessary to get and maintain their pastor position, those willing to compromise on important matters in order to keep a board or the deacons or elders happy, and then there is always the prOBlem of those in the pastorate who are not even saved (which I think is still much less a prOBlem among IFBs than it is with others).

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The Bible says the believers of Christ are the church. NOT a building that says "so and so (put in any denominations) church".

What you are looking for is not the church, You are looking for, is a place where the church fellowships.

making the church a building, (an RC bring over by the reformation break aways along with the Christian flag), and calling it the house of God is unbiblical blasphemy of the biblical doctrine of the church.

I am the church, You are the church, NO building will ever be the church.

And finding a pastor, Pastors/Teachers is a gift to men but they are not necessarily the co-pastor of the church which Jesus is the true Pastor. Elders were appointed over the church (people) in cities where they assembled. Bishops were also among those that led, we are not sure where in the Bible they were commended to appoint but Paul said if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good thing and they are connected to elders. but pastors were never commanded or said in scriptures to be head over the church (people) in the cities where they met.

Study and you will see the things I say are true and you will see this is not my doctrine this is God's and it is ignored for the money grubbing belly serving men who want the respect of men and titles, more than the respect of God.

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Is there some way to advertise what you're looking for? Maybe there is already a group looking for the same thing you are. My son's church started out with a pastor and grew and is growing. The growth took a lot of work but has seen the Holy Spirit bring them in.

and the topic going on are describing building and organizations not the true biblical doctrine of the church.

are you not seeing Dave statement of there are plenty of decent churches. He is not =talking about people he is talking about an organization and a building, Dont act so coy.

The more we keep calling the places of fellowship "the church" the more we promote the unbiblical doctrine of the roman Catholic church which says the building is the house of God. Don't tell me you have never heard any pastor say welcome to the House of the Lord. or some other misnomer. Like aren't you happy to be in the house of the Lord today?

I have met plenty of people now seeing the falseness of this and other doctrines coming out of baptist, methodist and RC fellowships. and because of it we are all meeting in a house and we are calling ourselves the church not the building. We are free from Govt 501c, and other money grubbing men who see the church as a means to feed themselves and put money in their pockets.

Edited 23 Jul 2014 by AVBibleBeliever

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I think you are reading it wrong - I don't see anyone talking about a church building.
Of necessity a church must meet somewhere - you meet in homes. If someone is looking for your church what you tell them?
We meet at such and such an address.

Grace saved is looking for a church - not a church building.

There are a lot of people who talk about church and mean the building, that is true. But I don't think that is how this thread is speaking.

GS is looking for a church - an organized group of believers to fellowship with.

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In "church" I am referring to a group of believers to fellowship with. The nearest IFB church is two hours away. I am not as concerned about the name of the church but if they are Biblically sound. I appreciate all the suggestions.

God's words are very important and as such so should our words. The more we use it to speak of a fellowship of believers, in reference to their building and location and denomination as the CHURCH, the more we promote a false doctrine.

Many of us would say that we need to be active like JW's in leading people to Christ. And the JW's are a head of us in not calling the location or the assembly of believers building a church. they use the unbiblical term "Kingdom Hall". The term company and fellowship are biblical terms that represent the assembly.

Our group has decided that when it is time to get a central location to assemble and fellowship.

1) We will do so by putting the building and lot in the name of a trust and not anyone believer or an organization.

2) there will be no sign, name or any symbol on the outside of the building identifying us with any sect or denomination (these are unbiblical as well).

3) The assembling believers will be responsible to take care of the building and grounds corporately.

4) the Assembling believers will be responsible for building and land tax. there will be no non-profit status and no openly/publicized/or preached collection of tithes and offerings (to do so puts you under the govt control as income and tax needs to be paid). Also the assembly will be responsible to build and finance to build the building used for fellowship as God moves on their heart.

5) There will be elders appointed to see to the ministry of the saints in the fellowship. these elders are on the same level no one is over the other. None will try to manipulate the others for personal benefit or control. the decisions necessary for purchases of any equipment or for outreaches will be first cleared on by a majority of the elders and then it is taken to the fellowship, the church the members of the body of Christ meeting there for final vote and it will be done only by majority.

6) Those with the gift of pastor/teachers shall be asked to teach and to pastor, those with the gift of ministry will administer, those with the gift of helps will help, and so on. No person in the body of Christ will be denied the free exercise of a spiritual gift except if it goes against the clear inspiration of God's word. And each person will do so with the consent of the whole body of Christ.

7) Any attempt by any member of the body of Christ attempting to cause division, self promotion, or in open sin will be rebuked. If there is no repentance of such actions the assembly of believers will upon majority put that person out of fellowship.

8) All teaching will be from the word of God and those who are teaching will study to show themselves approved, and their teaching will be both book by book through the Bible as well as topical. Those who are taught the word will communicate in all good things with those who teach the word as to supplement their lifestyle so that they can give themselves to the word and prayer.

9) the larger the fellowship the more the members of the body of Christ will be used to teach, minister and help.

10) If people in another area want to have a fellowship with like standards we will recognize them as the body of Christ and will send teachers to them and they to us for teaching. Also, a Bishop will be appointed to each fellowship to oversee that the fellowships are keeping to the above Biblical standards and means of teaching and practices.

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That's the prOBlem here as well. For some reason they continue to call themselves IFB but they have certainly moved away from the "F" in their willingness to compromise, water down and loosen stands on separation and other issues. It's sad to see.

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There is only ONE Body of Christ that is made up of many members. That ONE Body is identified in the Word of God as the CHURCH. Christ only has one Body.

That said, there are also buildings called Churches in the Bible.

In Revelation, we see Jesus speaking to the angel that was sent to the Church at Sardis, to the angel at the Church at Ephesus, and to five ofther Churches in other geographical locations.

I believe those Churches in Revelation to be places of worship where members of the ONE CHURCH, the Body of Christ met. Individually, we are not separate Churches. Rather, we are all members of ONE Body, ONE CHURCH, of which every joint supplieth.